Stuart’s big buck scores almost 150 inches B&C
They say good things come to those who wait.
In the case of James Curry Stuart, it took 65 years, but the wall-hanger buck he’s been after since he was child finally materialized on Nov. 19 in Caldwell Parish.
“I’ll soon be 75 years old and have hunted deer since I was ten years old. I’ve killed some deer but nothing like the one I got last month,” Stuart said. “This buck is the kind of deer I’ve been after for 65 years.”
The big 13-point Stuart downed sported an inside spread of nearly 20 inches and was scored at almost 150 inches of antler mass.
“The stand I hunted that morning is one I’ve hunted for the past four or five years,” said Stuart, a retired Columbia utility worker. “It’s a ground blind located on our 2,000-acre club in Caldwell Parish located north of Columbia between the Ouachita River and Highway 4. I got in my stand before daylight.”
Stuart’s blind is located along the old road he walked in on that is bordered by dense thickets on both sides.
“Along about 9, I had just about given up on my stand location so I picked up my phone and was sending a text to my grandson Stuart Baum, to tell him we needed to move my stand because all I’d ever seen at this location where it has been for over four seasons were does and spikes,” Stuart continued.
While he was texting, Stuart happened to look up and he saw something move in the thicket. He quickly texted his grandson to hold on.
“I laid the phone down and could tell the movement I was seeing was a deer slipping through the thicket at 40 to 50 yards. While I watched the deer move along, I could see an antler and could tell it was a nice buck,” he said. “It was so thick I searched the thicket in the direction the deer was headed and saw a small 2-foot wide opening so I put my scope on that spot and waited for the deer to walk into the only opening the thicket offered.
“I knew if I didn’t get a shot at him there, I wouldn’t have another chance for a shot.”
Training the scope on his Savage 7mm Mag on the opening, the deer stepped into the small clearing, Stuart squeezed the trigger and the buck dropped on the spot.
“I immediately called my grandson and told him I had shot a buck but had no idea of the size. I was talking with him as I walked to the deer,” Stuart said. “When I walked up to him, I said to my grandson, ‘He’s got a head full of horns!’”
The buck tipped the scales at 182 pounds, sported 13 points with an inside spread of 19 ⅛ inches and measured 148 ⅝ inches.
Don’t forget to enter photos of your bucks in the Nikon Big Buck Photo Contest to be eligible for monthly giveaways and the rand drawing for Nikon optics at the end of the contest.
Read other stories about big bucks killed this season by clicking here.
